Carter & Bendee, being given the lowest clerkship in the establishment
and a salary barely sufficient to support him.
This lad was JAMES T. FIELDS. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
on the 30th of December, 1820. His father was a captain in the merchant
service, and died when the boy was only four years old, leaving him to
the care and guidance of one of the best of mothers. He was educated at
the common schools of the city, and was thence transferred to the high
school. He exhibited a remarkable fondness for study, and at the early
age of thirteen graduated at the high school, taking the first honors of
his class. He was regarded as one of the best classical scholars in the
institution, and during his course took several prizes in Latin and
Greek composition. Unusual abilities as a poet were also manifested very
early, and when but twelve years old he wrote a poem in blank verse,
which attracted the attention of the late Chief Justice Woodbury, then
Governor of New Hampshire, who was so much surprised and gratified to
find such talent in so young a boy, that he earnestly advised him to
endeavor to complete his studies at Harvard University.
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